He is BEAUTIFUL. I think I remember seeing his squishy face somewhere else too...

Not to keen on his back legs...so straight! Does he seem to have any issue with that? I know a lot of Asian breeds (Shar Pei, Akita) are bred specifically for straight rear legs...not sure WHY but they are.

But regardless, he's just too squishy. Would he let me squish his big fat lips?

JCleve, you are right on with the leg issues. I like to joke that with him being a mutt, he got the worst of both breeds (don't get me started on him rumblies...not growls, but his Pei rumblies). Anyways, he has the worst bilateral hip dysplasia I have ever seen. We did FHO sx on his left hip which had no coverage as he was a year old & the socket was starting to degenerate & the head of the femur was floating in space. The right hip has approx. 5-10% coverage (60% is norm), however we cannot do sx on that side as he cannot support his weight on his L side to recover from another sx. He has knee problems that are primarily secondary to the hip issues, but nonetheless, they are there.

When I say he has bad hips/knees, he began coming up lame at only 6 mo. & by the time he was a year old, he was almost to a point where he would've gone done only to have not been able to get up again.

Yet now he's a happy 4 yr old who runs & plays with the best of him. He will always have a funky gait & that L hind leg swings funny, but hey, he gives the squirrels a good run for their mon..err...acorns. The FHO sx changed his life. I do keep him on the lean side (if I had a pic from the top you'd see he borders being pretty skinny) but it's necessary to keep his weight down so he has less to carry around.

He was the only puppy & his momma was a gorgeous brushcoat sable Shar Pei. Too bad the previous owners had all their dogs taken from them due to neglect. Lucky for me I was working at the shelter when he came in. (He was actually supposed to be euthanized based on being a mix b/n 2 "vicious" breeds but you know what some tantrum -throwing can get ya)